TIBET in SONG
AUCKLAND RIALTO CINEMA- NEWMARKET – Sunday  7th March 2010  Australasian Premiere  of TIBET in SONG at 4.40 pm., followed by questions and answers. Since Ngawang Choephel  couldn’t make it to the Premiere, so I told him that I will go and do the Q and A for him. I hope to be there in time after my hectic day as MC at the 13th Lakeside Multicultural Festival 2010 where 26 Ethnic Groups will perform from 1 – 5 pm.
TIBET in SONG will also screen on Friday the 12th March at 1.45 pm and Sunday 14th March at 1.35 pm    at Rialto Cinema Newmarket
WELLINGTON at ANGELIKA at Reading Cinemas – Courtenay:   Sunday 21st March at 4.30 pm, Friday 26th March at 1.30 pm   and Sunday 28th March 1.10 pm
I hope all our members will take this opportunity to see this documentary
You can also use the link to the film page on the website:
http://www.documentary.org.nz/2010/ak/film/tibet-in-song

Long Beach, LA — His Holiness left Memphis on the morning of September 24, 2009 arriving in Long Beach in California later this morning. At the airport he was received by Khensur Lobsang Jamyang whose Geden Shoeling Buddhist is hosting his visit here. Tibetan Parliamentarian for North America, Tenzing Chonden, and Kasur Pema Chhinjor were also among those who received His Holiness
His Holiness first went to the Geden Shoeling Buddhist Center in Westminster, California, where he blessed its library. He also had a lunch there before proceeding to Long Beach.
In the afternoon, at 2:30 pm His Holiness left for the nearby Terrace Theatre where around 500 members of the Tibetan community from southern California and nearby areas had gathered for an audience with him. The president of the Tibetan Community of Southern California, Mrs. Pema Chodon, gave a brief report on the activities.
The children of the Sunday Tibetan Culture school presented a song in praise of His Holiness.
Thereafter, His Holiness addressed the people for nearly 50 minutes. His Holiness said it is 50 years since we became refugees. He said it is nearly 60 years since the unfortunate events happened in Tibet. In the life span of a people’s history 50 years is not a long time, but if we look at it from the point of view of an individual’s life span, 50 or 60 years are really long time, he said.
He said in one sense, our situation for the past 50 years is a sad one. Those of us in exile have been homeless while those Tibetans in Tibetan have undergone great difficulties. However, in another sense on account of that negative development, the Tibetan people in all the three provinces have seen the strengthening of their feeling of their being the same people from the Land of Snows. His Holiness said, in the past, if we take the region where he was born, in Dhomey in Qinghai Province, the people there did not have any connection with the Tibetan Government. Although the people had spiritual connection their feeling of being Tibetan has not been that visible. But last year we saw developments in Tibet that showed that all Tibetans considered themselves as one, he said.
His Holiness said in exile, in general wherever Tibetans live, whether in India, Switzerland, or the United States, they have developed a very positive image. However, now if we are not alert and careful there is the risk of gradual degeneration of the positive Tibetan characteristic.
His Holiness said among the scholars in the international community Tibetan culture is seen as something that is beneficial to the world. Among scientists, there is acceptance that Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhism are not just museum pieces but something that have relevance to day-to-day life, he added.
He said if we look back to our situation in the past 50 years our negative experience has turned out to be some sort of a blessing. He said he usually mentioned that had he not been a refugee and resided in Lhasa, he would have had some pomp but would not have had the exposure to the world or would not have been able to have interest in such matters. On account of our being in exile, he said he had been able to meet all sorts of people, politicians, scientists, ordinary individuals, sick people, etc. From his own childhood he said he had been very curious to know and to get answers for “how” and “why” of anything. After meeting different people, he said he had the opportunity to become more aware.
His Holiness said he had always been saying that we should hope for the best while preparing for the worst. He thus urged everyone to be alert and not to become lax. In Tibet, the Tibetan people are exposed daily to fear and tribulation and so they have daily reminder of their situation. Those of us in exile, while we do care about the common cause, but because of absence of any daily emergency situation, other than means of earning livelihood or improving our situation, we face the risk of becoming lax, he said. We need to think over our condition and to think about the hope being placed in us by the people in Tibet, he said. His Holiness said this does not mean that one does something specifically for the Tibetan cause. Any Tibetan can utilize the opportunity in his or her daily interaction at the workplace or anywhere to show the positive Tibetan characteristic, he said. Such an attitude will garner support for Tibet from others.
His Holiness said it is important for the parents to relate their experience to their children so that the children become aware of the situation under which our community has existed and be reminded of their identity.
His Holiness said we are following the non-violent path for the cause of Tibet. We are proud of the path we have adopted since we have truth on our side. On account of this we can be non-violent and transparent. On the other hand, since the Chinese Communists do not have truth (concerning Tibet) they have to indulge in falsehood, distortion, and the use of force. If they have truth, then they can provide reasons.
In order to follow the path of non-violence we need education, His Holiness said. In the past we have fallen behind in the matter of modern education, he added. He related the experience of the 13th Dalai Lama who upon his return from India had taken steps to send students abroad, but that could not happen.
His Holiness also told the audience about his interaction with some Christian group in Ladakh during his recent visit there. He said he had told them that the Christians may have been the most effective among the religious traditions in providing education throughout the world. He told them that the Christian groups had established a school in Batang in Kham. Phuntsok Wangyal had told him that he had gone to that school. Similarly in Amdo there was another school. His Holiness said that had there been more such schools in Tibet there would have been hundreds and thousands of Tibetans who would have had modern education.
We need to look at our past experience and need to pay special attention to education. His Holiness then asked the university students in the audience to stand up. He commended them and said along with their studies they need to interact with more students, particularly if there are Chinese students. Such activities would be beneficial, he said. His Holiness also asked parents to encourage their children to continue their studies and to undertake specialized education.
His Holiness said along with modern education they also need to pay attention to Tibetan culture the basis of which is Tibetan Buddhism. He said mere faith in Tibetan Buddhism was not enough. One needs to study Buddhism and gain conviction through reasoning.
His Holiness referred to the presence of some monks in the gathering and said that they needed to be really conscientious. He advised the monk community not to use their religious faith as a means of earning a livelihood. Similarly, he said that anyone wearing a monk’s garment needs to be careful to abide by the responsibilities that come with it and they should not do anything inappropriate.
As for relations with China, His Holiness said that he did not have anything special to tell them. He said the main responsibility is being shouldered by the elected Kalon Tripa. We are sincerely following the path of democracy, he said. In the course of last year’s Special General Meeting, His Holiness said he had conveyed to the Kalon Tripa that we needed to get the frank views of the public on future course of action and to abide by it rather than us trying to bring them to our point of view.
His Holiness said after the Tibetan demonstrations last year and the subsequent Chinese actions we had felt that we needed to strengthen our outreach to the Chinese scholars in addition to our contact with the Chinese Government. He said he had suggested the establishment of Tibetan-Chinese friendship groups and some have already been established. He said he himself had made efforts in meeting Chinese scholars, particularly those who reside in China. He added that he may have met over 300 such Chinese individuals in the past one year. After these people have heard our side of the story relating to Tibet they have no hesitation in supporting us, he said.
He said some of the Chinese scholars tell us that the political system in China will change. In the past 60 years or so there has been degeneration of the traditional Chinese characteristic. Today, money has become the central focus in China. They feel that there is the need to revive the positive Chinese tradition. They say that today we need the support of the Chinese scholars on the Tibetan issue. In the future, Tibetans need to support the Chinese people in reviving their spiritual and cultural heritage. Thus, Chinese scholars understand the value of Tibetan culture and place hope on it for developing the Chinese society.
Therefore, it is very important that we establish relationship with the Chinese people. Some of them have told us that in the past they had only known the official Chinese Government position. But after meeting us, coming to the Tibetan communities in India, etc. they say that they have to apologize for what has happened to the Tibetans. This is the result of our having truth on our side.
If we look at the local level where Tibetans are in dire situation, things may seem hopelesss, but if we look at the situation from a broader perspective, it is a matter before truth triumphs. Everyone needs to continue with their indomitable determination.
If we look at the Tibetan people through history we can certainly feel proud. We have a language. If people need to study Buddhist philosophy in the world today it is Tibetan language that has the best collection. Thus we can be proud of being Tibetans. We also need to be able to keep up with the times in this 21st century and have an all round education. That is all.
His Holiness will be giving teachings on Septembet 25 and 26 in Long Beach.
— reported by Bhuchung K Tsering

Phayul
August 31, 2009
Dharamsala Aug 31 — The Kalon Tripa, Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, yesterday advised Tibetan writers, poets and editors to adopt a middle way in their writing practices. The Prime Minister of Tibetan exile government was speaking as the chief guest at a literary conference today organized by the Tibetan PEN here at Mentseekhang hall.
Several writers, poets, editors and readers met for the annual affair that attracted participation from south India and Varanasi besides the avid readers from Norbulingka Institute and Sarah Tibetan College. The meeting was evidently a conglomeration of the usual group of Tibetan writers and readers. There was neither a diverse group, nor the sporadic writers in English except for one.
The president of Tibetan PEN, Lhamo Kyap, a poet and now a lecturer at a university in France, welcomed the gathering while the main organizer of the conference Kunther Dhondup, vice president of the organization, gave an overview of the conference.
Media shy Tibetan poet and writer Lodoe Palsang, who looked more like a rock star made a rare appearance to comment on overall literary development, while the lone Tibetan writer in English present at the conference, Tenzin Tsundue, spoke on “Mapping Tibetan Writing in English”.
Defining “Tibetan literature” threw up a controversy as some of the writers refused to recognize Tibetan writings in foreign languages as “Tibetan literature”. Tsundue claimed that if a writer is Tibetan and if the content is also Tibetan then it must be considered as Tibetan literature, it can be in English like Jamyang Norbu’s or Woeser’s in Chinese. Tsundue later told Phayul that the debate would grow stronger now that a whole new generation of English readers is growing up.
During the two-day proceedings the speakers covered a wide range of topics and subjects of concerns like women writing and writing for children. Tibetan writer and translator Chung Tsering mapped “story writing in exile since 1960”. Kelsang Lhamo’s novel “Drangsong Thiney Ki Milam Yunchik” was applauded by many. Pema Tsewang Shastri’s novel in Tibetan “Warm East Cold West” based on real lives of exile Tibetans won much praise for its realistic approach.
Some of most appreciated writers who got mentions were Gendun Chophel, Dhondup Gyal, Jamyang Norbu, Dawa Norbu, Pema Bhum, Ju Kesang, Jangbu, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Zung Shuk Kyi and Buchung D Sonam. Tibetan Freedom and other magazines were lauded as platforms for the writers.
Kalong Tripa boosted the morale of the writers promising his government’s support for publications of literature and also literary gatherings. However he stressed on the need for discipline among writers besides producing good literature in an apparent reference to a few members of the Tibetan PEN not returning to India after a literary conference in Europe two years back.
The Tibetan PEN will hold its general elections today but not many changes in the executives are expected.

Tibet Truth Blog
August 14, 2009
A traditional way-of-life which has flourished on the high grasslands of  Tibet is being silently strangled through policies which can only be understood as a form of cultural genocide, as hundreds-of-thousands of Tibetan nomads are being forced from their land. Communist China decided to ‘modernize’ Tibet’s ancient pastoral and nomadic economy, which has co-existed with the unique habitat of the Tibetan Plateau for millenia.
However operating behind the propaganda claims of  ecological protection and improving the conditions of Tibet’s nomadic population, is a policy that seeks to imprison some 2 million Tibetan nomads and exploit Tibet’s natural resources. Aimed at satisfying the needs of mainland China, the huge economic potential of Tibet’s considerable reserves of gas, oil,  minerals, water and timber provides no benefit the Tibetan people. Who, driven from their lands by communist China’s jack-booted paramilitary thugs, now find that open skies, yak-hair tents and snow-capped horizons have been replaced by barbed-wire and what are effectively concentration camps. Traumatized, confused and intimidated they are abandoned to grieve at the loss their lifestyle.
Concentration Camps Await (Golok in Amdo Eastern Tibet)
This state-engineered ethnic-cleansing operates on a scale not witnessed since the insane policies of Stalinist Russia, when countless numbers of  Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays and Meskhetian Turks
had their land forcibly confiscated. The deportation of Tibetans into concentration settlements shares similar totalitarian
objectives, to eradicate cultural and national identity and exert greater political and military control.  Such aims were revealed by remarks made last year by Tibet’s communist overlord Zhang Qingli  who noted in an internal Chinese journal that the “peace and contentment” that nomads derive from so-called improved housing “is the fundamental condition for us in holding the initiative in the struggle against the Dalai clique.”
Communist China Fences Of Kham’s Grasslands
Beijing is determined to crush resistance to Communist Chinese occupation and is investing considerable money into the creation of Tibetan reservations and concentration settlements. According to an October 2008 official communist
Chinese report, the authorities occupying Tibet’s eastern region of Kham (which was annexed and renamed into Sichuan Province) declared that some 470,000 nomads would be resettled, from an estimated total of 530,000 nomads.  In the neighboring region of Amdo (annexed and renamed as Qinghai Province) during 2004 the communist regime demanded that by 2011 all Tibetan nomads would deported from their traditional lands.
Creating Tibetan Reservations
The planned extinction of Tibetan nomadism by Communist China has shamefully attracted little concern from the so-called international community, history screams from the sidelines and once again liberal democratic societies remain silent.

Tibet Truth Blog
August 15, 2009
Lao Tzu, one of China’s great Taoist philosophers contemplating upon the challenges presented to a governing authority suggested that, “If you want to rule the people with impunity, fill their bellies and empty their minds.” That instruction has been accorded considerable political and economic investment by China’s communist regime, which employs consumptive distraction as one of a number of remedies against popular dissent and social agitation.
It is applied with particular zeal in occupied Tibet, where in an effort to undermine and corrupt the cohesive fabric of Tibetan culture and identity, the questionable consumer benefits of Chinese colonization are paraded on virtually every street. It is a sobering and troubling sight to witness Tibetans as stangers in their own cities, overwhelmed by China’s neon excesses which have so completely transformed towns across Tibet. Tibetans have suffered considerable social and health costs from such colonialist ‘development’, not that such an impact would concern the communist regime, which welcomes the gradual erosion of traditional Tibetan values.
Beer Promotion On Nearly Every Street

That process has been given a particularly worrying momentum by the increased availability of cheap alcohol and profusion of bars and nightclubs in Tibet’s major centers. Rather like the ‘fire-water’ poisoning of Native American peoples, which the ‘white-man’ tolerated and encouraged as a crude means of oppression and control, the devestating impacts of which continue . The communist Chinese authorities recognize and are gratified by the debilitating and corrosive societal effects alcoholism poses. A Tibetan population suffering the divisive and distracting fractures caused by alcohol abuse and dependency, the scale of which has not previously been experienced in Tibet, is less able or willing to organize and participate in political resistance.
It is an increasing health issue amongst Tibetans. According to a 2008 field-study, in part conducted by Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College in London the extent of alcohol related disorders has reached 31.6% for males and nearly 10 % for women. While a 2003 investigation recorded that “Alcohol use disorder was the most serious problem in Tibet with a point prevalence of 41.89% and a lifetime prevalence of 43.6%%. A number of associated mental health problems were also noted amongst those Tibetans examined with neuroses reaching a level of 26.7% and over 20%
instance of anxiety related disorders.Insidious Oppression
Insidious Oppression
Such results reflect the trauma and misery experienced by Tibetans under Chinese occupation who exist in a condition of almost perpetual anxiety, faced with the debilitating effects of poverty, unemployment or overwork, and enduring slum living conditions See File The oppressive forces which deny Tibetans their freedom and culture, is encouraging a dangerous slide into alcoholism. That suits the purposes of communist China which is intent of undermining restance to
its occupation of Tibet and eradicating forever any sense of a seperate Tibetan identity. Let us hope that Lao Tzu’s counsel does not prevail.
Lhasa Beer To Increase Production to 200,000 tons
The so-called Lhasa Beer Company, in part owned by Carlsberg (which has been an active player inside the Chinese market http://www.carlsberggroup.com/Company/Markets/Pages/China.aspx and recognizes Tibet as a growing area of
consumption) exports to the United States, where its American operation is run by George Witz. It’s website
http://lhasabeerusa.com/about-d/about contains some curious information on Tibet including the following whitewash:
“The culture of Tibet is deeply ingrained with compassion for all of life and that which supports it. They lived close to and revered the glories of the natural world. In their time they did not cut their forests or mine the earth for its bounty and lived in harmony and with a very light touch on the land. But times have changed and the forces of modernity are impinging on their traditional way of life which is becoming marginalized. They must adapt to the modern pressures and evolving circumstance in which they find themselves or face that their traditional way of life and their entire body of spiritual knowledge, which already has been seriously weakened, could slowly become extinct in its own land” (emphasis added)
The industrialized production and widespread availability of alcohol across Tibet is part of the machinery of communist China’s cultural oppression, a point which does not seem to concern Lhasa Beer USA. One wonders if perhaps Mr. Witz’s ancestors were Jewish? If so how would he have felt about an American businessman importing and promoting Polish beer produced in Nazi-Occupied Poland?

CTA
August 28 2009
Dharamshala — Gonpo Dhargye’s wife and his five children have been staging sit-in protest in front of the local police station in Jomda County in Tibet’s Chamdo Prefecture demanding his immediate release since 20 August, sources said.
Gonpo Dhargye, a local government official, was arrested along with his colleague by Chinese security forces on 27 June for failing to enforce patriotic education campaign at a monastery in Pema township in Jomda county.
Many local residents who tried to stop the forces from arresting Gonpo Dhargye were detained at Kyabche monastery and severely beaten up. Later, five detainees, including Gonpo Dhargye and Norlha who were considered ring leaders, were taken to Jomda county.
Gonpo Dhargye’s wife said her husband was arrested on baseless charges, adding, the family would die of hunger if their sole breadwinner is not released. So, we will die in front of the police station, she cried out. The police officials told her that they will soon decide her husband’s case, but they haven’t taken any decisive action yet.
Gonpo Dhargye is believed to be in poor health condition. His wife and five children, the eldest son being 11-years-old, are facing enormous hardships

Central Tibetan Administration
August 27, 2009
Dharamshala: Four Tibetan men who took part in the peaceful protests in Lhasa last year were sentenced to imprisonment with terms ranging from two-and-a-half to fifteen years by the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court in the beginning of this year, sources said.
They have been identified as Wangchuk or Lobsang Wangchuk, Tsultrim, Choephel and Lhakpa Tsering.
Three of them joined peaceful demonstration against the Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet in Takste County, while one protested in Lhasa in March 2008.
They are believed to be serving their jail terms in a prison located in Chushul County near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Lobsang Wangchuk, aged 26, son of Sonam Tsering, belongs to Dechen township in Taktse County. He received imprisonment up to 15 years for his role in the peaceful protests in Taktse last year. He had studied at Sangag monastery in Dechen township and later worked as taxi driver.
Tsultrim, aged 23, who is the elder of Lobsang Wangchuk and Choephel, aged 24, were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail.
Lhakpa Tsering, aged 22, who was a painter by profession before he was arrested for participating in the peaceful demonstration in Lhasa. He is serving five years imprisonment.
The security clampdown by Chinese security forces and police across Tibet since 10 March last year left more than 220 Tibetans dead and over 1,294 were seriously injured. Over 5,600 were arrested, 290 sentenced and more than 1,000 have simply disappeared, as per information received by the Central Tibetan Administration.

Remembering Tsangyang Gyatso, Gendun Choephel, Dhondup Gyal, Tsering Wangyal, Dawa Norbu and others
By Bhuchung D. Sonam
Tibetan World Magazine  July 2009
Your old road is
Rapidly ageing.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changing.
— Bob Dylan
The confrontation against writers and intellectuals in any society generally comes from two sections — the mob and the authority. While the former is a congregation of the ultra orthodox who are untouchable by winds of change, the latter is a force all out to silence creative voices, since creativity means change and the change signifies danger to those in power. History is filled with such incidences – lack of societal receptacle for fresh thoughts and rule of thumb by those in power, a toxic cocktail that often drives the intellectuals into exile, social ostracism and in many cases to their demise. Over and above these conditions there seems to be, in our society, a trace of collective karmic result that by a freak twist of fate hammers the heads that rise above others.
It all began with His Holiness the Sixth Dalai Lama, Rigzin Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706), or the Precious Ocean of Pure Melody — his rebellious life, non-conformity to established social norms, challenging received wisdom, love for creative expression, desire to bring change and tragic early death.
The poet Dalai Lama was born on 1 May 1683 in Mon, presently Arunachal Pradesh in India, and in 1697 he was enthroned at the Potala Palace as the Sixth Dalai Lama. Growing to a tall, handsome but simple youth, Tsangyang never liked the strict regimens and the grand routines in the huge palace. He spent a great deal of time in outdoor sports and worldly affairs with his friends. By the time he was twenty years old, he had made his mind not to take the vows to become a fully ordained monk, thus creating an uproar in the Potala Palace and endangering the very institution of the Dalai Lama. The regent, Sangye Gyatso, became desperate as his successful rule over Tibet depended on how the young Dalai Lama was brought up to befit his name.
In the ensuing years Sangye Gyatso’s political intrigue, miscalculated alliance with the Dzungar Mongols, failed assassination of Lhazang Khan, the Qosot Mongol and bitter rival of the Dzungar, proved fatal. Lhazang’s retribution ended with the beheading of the regent, deposing of the Dalai Lama on 27 June 1706 and taking him by force to China. As Tsangyang and the Mongol escorts reached Kunga-nor, a small lake in Kokonor region, he died or most likely was murdered. Some claim that Tsangyang Gyatso simply disappeared and, as The Secret Biography of the Sixth Dalai Lama mentions, led a secret but fruitful and peripatetic life as a yogi. At the time of his death, murder or disappearance he was 23.
In his short, chaotic life, Tsangyang penned some of the finest poems and love songs ever written in Tibetan. Free of didacticism and elaborate imageries of traditional Tibetan cantos, he wrote and sang out of his experience and longing to be who he was. There is spontaneity in his poems and universality in his message. To this day his songs are sung by Tibetans scattered all across the globe.
If the maiden forever lives
The wine ceaselessly will flow
And in the tavern this youth
Eternally will seek his refuge.
Then for two centuries there was silence. As the twentieth century dawned, and the wheel of change was at full throttle elsewhere, our kismet punctured. The demon popped up its ugly head. This time it was the over-cautious, squabbling
and intriguing ruling Lhasa aristocrats who were up in arms against the small frail bespectacled monk. The monk’s ideas for Tibet wobbled their weak hearts carefully hidden beneath the fine silk brocades. They pounded him with their inadequacies.
Gendun Choephel (1905-1951), the foremost of modern Tibetan intellectual, was born in 1905 in Rebkong, northeastern Tibet. He was a bright student and a brilliant monk who created chaos in the debating courtyards with his antics and often unconventional, but brilliant, dialectical skills. He travelled in India and Sri Lanka like a vagabond, craving for knowledge. By the time he returned to Tibet karma had turned against him. He was imprisoned in February 1946 for crimes of treason, and underwent unimaginable suffering and humiliation. (while in Kalimpong GC had met Ragpa, Changlochen and Kunphe-la, three influential and somewhat reform-minded people for whom he supposedly helped design the emblem and wrote the manifesto for their Tibet Improvement Party. Although Lhasa aristocrats never
officially stated, this was said to be the main reason for his imprisonment)
In his life Gendun Choephel scanned everything that passed by him and produced numerous books from Buddhist philosophy to the Tibetan art of making love. He wanted change in Tibet that never came. When he came out of Nangtse Shak Prison in May 1949, his hair was long and his manner strange. He took to drink and cigarettes to dispel his extreme disillusion. The brightest star that shone in the Tibetan sky exploded under constant poundings of censure, short-sightedness and the witless whims of a few elites. The demon was on the loose. Gendun Choephel passed away in
Lhasa at 4 pm on 14 August 1951. He was 47.
Dhondup Gyal (1953-1985), the enigmatic rebel poet and writer, was born in 1953 in the tiny village of Gurong Phuba, northeastern Tibet. After braving a broken family and lack of early education opportunities, his diligence and love of books led him to discover his creative ability and the need to inspire others. When opportunity knocked its door he excelled in his studies and soon acquired a unique voice. The originality in his writing was supplemented by a strong sense of Tibetanness and patriotism, which also drove him into many fights, both verbal and physical, with anyone who looked down upon Tibetans.
As an iconic figure, one of his many contributions is to restore a love of and interest in Tibetan language amongst Tibetan youths. A section of conservative Tibetans failed to understand his defiant moods and seemingly unconventional style of writing, not knowing that his new creations were firmly based on Tibet’s rich literary past. He was perfectly in tune with the era and let his pen dance to the shifting melody of time. The harmonious rhythm of his pen was but a new voice for the ancient tradition. However, the confrontation never ceased. He was threatened with dire consequences when his short story titled Tulku was published in 1981.
Feeling constricted by such a suffocating social environment, he eventually decided to lift the weight off his back. Our karma twisted. In November 1985 Dhondup Gyal apparently committed suicide in his room in Chabcha. He was 32.
In the heat of Indian summer where butter sculptures melt, the demon followed us like the shadow of an empty glass. It searched the entire length of the Tibetan diaspora scattered across the earth and in the far-flung corner of Colorado, it found Trungpa, the poet and meditation master.
Chögyam Trungpa (1939-1987) was born in Kham, eastern Tibet. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he escaped into exile and became a leading meditation master, a prolific author and an astonishing poet. He spewed out a range of verses constantly reminding us about the fleeting nature of existence. At times he wrote to say that we are fools blindly dancing around a fire of ignorance. The range of his writing was matched only by his eccentricity.
Along the winding road of his life as a father, a master, a husband, and a poet, he invited controversy and gathered flakes, which he nudged off with a wave of his incisive pen.
‘The best minds of my generation are idiots,They have such idiot compassion.The world of charity is turned into chicken-food,The castles of diamond bought and sold for tourism …’
Trungpa passed away in 1987. He was 48.
The vicious circle was turning. Our karma dwindled. Calamities were in the offing.
Ngodup Paljor (1948-1988) was a little-known figure. But he was among other things a translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a professor of Tibetan studies at the University of Hawaii, the founder of The Alaska Tibet Committee and a vibrant poet. Through his forced travel from Tibetan hills to the Indian plains and eventually to cold Alaska, he was a refugee, a monk and a layman.
Sitting in the mountains he juggled between his perfect Tibetan, Hindi, Pali, Thai and English. The final words, however, were always reflective of the country he left behind.
‘I remember the face of Mt. Everest
The Queen of the Earth
I grew on her lap
And played with her children.’
On 25 October 1988, Paljor died in an accident at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska. He was 40.
In the midst of our uncertain exile existence many flowers bloomed only to be blighted by untimely frosts of communal wrath. The devil has many shapes and forms.
K. Dhondup (1952-1995) was born in Rubin Gang in Tibet. He was a restless youth with great zeal. In the 1970s, when there were severe repressions in Tibet by the Communist China, a few Tibetans set up a Tibetan communist party in exile. On 1 May 1979 the Tibetan Communist Party (TCP) came into the open with K. Dhondup, Namgyal and
Kelsang Tenzin as its founding fathers causing ‘shock, distress and panic’ in exile community. Understandably, the party was vehemently opposed and its founders faced public rage and ostracism. Their intention may have been good, but the timing was terrible. Communism as an ideology was already on the decline then and as we see today it has virtually disappeared – except in dreadfully repressive and closed countries like North Korea, China and Cuba.
The founding of the TCP created a spurt of ideological debates and comments, including one by His Holiness the Dalai Lama who spoke in favour of the TCP. Perhaps it was extreme zest and youthful naiveté that drove Dhondup and his comrades to launch the TCP without a fuller understanding of its historical necessity or the many fundamental contradictions communism has with Tibetan culture and religion. However, K. Dhondup’s open-mindedness and boldness in expressing his views were rare qualities. His additional strength was the judicious use of his pen to reassert our sense of history and to compose verses, which were painfully poignant and evocatively tender.
‘A tear is a poem
A smile its celebration’
K. Dhondup passed away at 6 am on 7 May 1995 in New Delhi. He was 42.
Re-rooting in exile is an agonizing process. In this stage on unsure ground more flowers were to be destroyed. In the summer of 1988, a friend took me with him to his sister-in-law Lhamo Tsering’s place in Delhi. The address was Tibetan Review, D-11, East of Kailash. The next day I asked Acha Lhamo about Tsering Wangyal (1949-2000) fondly called Editor, of whom I heard so many near-legend stories in school. She was the circulation manager for the Tibetan Review and was occupying the room opposite to Editor’s. Acha Lhamo did not tell any story. Instead she let me and my friend go into editor’s room saying that he would not come back that night. With our schoolboy curiosity doubly roused we marched in expecting a room befitting the stories we’d heard. The bare dingy, ten-by-twelve room was a big disappointment. There were pyjamas on the floor forming a number eight, a single bed with a grey bedsheet, plastic slippers and a television. The bathroom, however, was luxuriously full to the brim with empty beer bottles. A genius must drink a lot of beer, I thought.
We showed our disappointment to Acha Lhamo, who then told us that once a Japanese journalist, dressed in a three-piece suit, came to interview Editor. The journalist knocked on the door and when Editor came out in crumpled pyjamas rubbing his eyes, the Japanese very politely stated his purpose and asked for the editor of the Tibetan Review. Editor answered he was the editor and the Japanese was taken aback, lost his words and became extremely nervous.
Tsering Wangyal had an uncanny power over words that came with mathematical precision, ‘quick wit and irreverent humour’. During his nineteen years as the editor, Tibetan Review became a standard forum where ideas were debated, ideologies were shaped and shaky policies from both sides of the Himalayas were shredded. His ascetic life was made more attractive by the sounds of his words which echoed in the corridors of the Kashag and Zhongnanhai in equal measure.
Editor’s dedication to his profession was also incomparable. The day on which he was to leave for Canada he attended his office at the Voice of Tibet in Dharamshala with his belongings stuffed in a small carry bag. After office that evening, he sat in a bus that wormed slowly down the narrow road towards the plains. It was the last time we saw him.
Tsering Wangyal passed away in Toronto at 8:33 pm on 24 November 2000. He was 51.
Dawa Norbu (1948-2006) was born in Tashigang, a small village near Sakya in Central Tibet. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet he, along with his mother and other siblings, escaped to India where he had opportunities to study.
Using his modern education, he boldly wrote in the editorial of the Tibetan Review, August 1972, “…that the Tibetan people in and outside need a dynamic and pragmatic political leadership. Even the comrade who believes in the miracles of the masses would agree that a people with great revolutionary possibilities would remain fallow without a dynamic leader. Tibetan leadership in exile tends to be more interested in spiritual pursuits than in the mundane affairs of a people who is gasping for its national existence.”
Under the circumstances of that time and perhaps even now, it was a perfectly true and apt comment. But the mob was up in arms demanding Dawa Norbu’s death for insulting their holy leader. In a fervent rage of misguided emotion the Tibetan women came out in full force shouting and shrieking. They took off their beautiful aprons and flapped them in the air, a last measure of insult generally reserved for Communist China. Dawa Norbu at that time did not understand the meaning of women flapping aprons.
A group of Tibetans in their fanatic refusal to violate customary norms of blind-faith and utter narrow-mindedness chased Dawa Norbu with their fists firmly clenched. Luckily his friends were able to hide him in Dejongpa B. Tsering’s room opposite the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, where presently a scary cell-phone tower stands. Ultimately, it took the Dalai Lama’s voice to knock some sense into those obnoxious minds.
Dawa Norbu had a private audience with His Holiness during which he was praised for having the guts to speak the truth. Later, in a speech given during the general meeting on Tibetan Education, the Dalai Lama reiterated his praise and further stated that the purpose of educating young exile Tibetans was coming to fruition with their courage to think, express and carry out responsibilities as exemplified by Dawa Norbu. The boiling pot suddenly cooled down.
In 1976 Dawa Norbu left for further studies in the US, and in 1982 he completed his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkley. However, when he came back to Dharamshala his karma frowned at him. Perhaps the authorities did not forget the furore that his editorial created more than a decade earlier, or maybe they did not want too bright a star amongst them lest they pale under its shine, or some say that he went under depression. Whatever the reasons were, Dawa remained jobless for quite sometime.
The dry spell, however, came as a blessing in disguise, for it led him to become a professor at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University. The journey of a boy from a small peasant family who rose to become exile Tibet’s foremost scholar reached its pinnacle. He, as one of his students wrote, ‘combined rare intellect with practical insights and honesty’.
Dawa Norbu passed away around 12 noon on 28 May 2006. He was 58.
The average age of these outstanding individuals is 42.
When they were alive, a constant flow of words from them lost its meaning in our superstitious and half-baked minds and the authorities gagged their mouths with self-serving petty politics. The nibs of their pens became blunt, words
blurred, sentences grew denuded and the writers became victims. Yet when most of us have died and turned to ashes, the new flowers that bloom will find wisdom in the words of these people… and through words their names will be remembered and honoured, while we will disappear into the shadows of history, unknown and unclaimed.
It is better to live a short fruitful life, than a long parasitic one.
Bhuchung D. Sonam can be reached at tsampa@tibetwrites.org

Haunting memories of a former Tibetan prisoner (Source: IANS)
Published: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 at 12:02 IST
By Mayank Aggarwal
Dharamsala: More than two decades have passed since she was released from prison by the Chinese authorities, but the painful memories of her jail stay still haunt her. Eighty-year-old Ama Adhe, a Tibetan living in India, now spends her day in prayer.
“I have seen independent Tibet and have witnessed the cruelty of the Chinese forces during our struggle. In 1958, the Chinese forces arrested me along with 300 other women for supporting the struggle and were taken to a jail in China,” said Adhe, who used to reside in eastern Tibet.
She was part of the Tibetan struggle that led to the 1959 Tibetan uprising against the communist regime of China. As Chinese forces crushed the uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans left Tibet and sought refuge in India and other parts of the world.
At present, the population of exiled Tibetans is over 140,000, of which about 100,000 are based in India.
Adhe recalled her own story even as a fresh batch of 40 Tibetan refugees, nine of them former political prisoners like her, has reached Dharamsala – the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Himachal Pradesh.
“The conditions in jail were inhuman for anyone to live. We were given either very little food or no food for days and 150 women died within one-and-a-half-years. Many of us used to eat the soles of our shoes made of leather,” she said.
“After three years, only four of us remained alive. While we were being shifted to a prison in Tibet, I saw a pile of bodies. I was horrified,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks and trembling hands.
She was released in 1985 after spending 27 years in prison. Her husband had died before she was imprisoned. Her son fell into a river and died while she was being taken away by the Chinese forces. Her daughter was taken care of by a friend.
Chinese forces released her on condition that she would not reveal anything about her time in jail to anyone.
“My daughter asked me to stay with her. But I wanted to tell the world the condition of Chinese rule in Tibet and highlight the inhuman treatment and misery of Tibetan political prisoners,” Adhe told a visiting IANS correspondent.
She tried to come to India in 1986 and 1987 but failed. She finally reached India in 1988. She met the supreme Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who asked her to tell the ‘truth’ to the world. After this she wrote a book, “Voice That Remains”, narrating her experience.
She now lives in McLeodganj in Dharamsala along with her second husband and spends her time praying. Adhe is one among hundreds of ex-political prisoners living in exile in India.
“We have around 500 ex-political prisoners registered with us who are living in India. There are several others who are not registered with us,” said Ngawang Woeber of the Gu-Chu-Sum movement, which works for the welfare of the political prisoners of Tibet.
“Thousands of Tibetans are still lodged in prison in Tibet and have been given a punishment ranging from a few years of imprisonment to the death sentence. There are several who have spent more than two decades of their life inside prison,” said Woeber, who himself has been a political prisoner.
“During the 2008 uprising, thousands of Tibetans were arrested, 30 percent of whom were women. Youths were involved in large numbers in the revolt this time around. Eighty percent of the protesters belonged to the 18-35 age group,” he added.
“Our people are suffering inside their own country. They don’t even have recent pictures of the Dalai Lama.”
Over six million Tibetans are believed to be living in Tibet.

Phayul
August 21, 2009
Dharamsala, August 21 — Four monks of Sera monastery who, along with ten others, carried out a protest at Bharkor street in the Tibetan capital Lhasa last year on March 10 had been sentenced to varying prison terms, according to the Voice of Tibet radio service. Chinese police immediately arrested the fourteen monks who carried the banned Tibetan national flag and shouted slogans calling for Tibet’s independence.
Lodoe had been sentenced to ten years in prison and is currently detained at Chushul prison near Lhasa. Lodoe’s family in Sershul, Zachukha, had received an official intimation of the sentencing of Lodoe in April this year and were warned
against publicizing the sentencing of Lodoe.
On July 14 this year, Lodoe’s family paid a visit to his prison where they knew that two other companions of Lodoe, 29 year old Lobsang Ngodup and 30 year old Mangay Soepa, had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
A native of Zachukha and presently a monk at Sera monastery in south India, told the radio that there is no news about another monk named Thinlay Namgyal, who was arrested on charges of setting ablaze a house in Lhasa last year during the protests.
The same source said another monk named Sonam Dakpa who had visited India a few times was arrested on his way back to Tibet last year around the time of unrest in Tibet and sentenced to ten years in prison. He is detained at Chushul prison.
Since the majority of the fourteen monks arrested were from Zachukha the Chinese authorities suspected Ari Rinpoche’s (spelled as pronounced) hand behind the fourteen monks and arrested him from Lhasa. Ari Rinpoche is the head of Wonpo (spelled as pronounced) monastery in Zachukha and his whereabouts are unknown. Another monk named Draklha, a scripture master at Sera monastery had also been arrested and whereabouts not known.